Subject: HEADLINES October 20-26

Oct 20 (Reuter) - Bulgaria, poised to host a major
environmental conference, said that writing off some of its
debts could help improve the safety of its controversial
nuclear power plant at Kozloduy. The question of Kozloduy's
safety has cast a shadow over the three-day Environment for
Europe conference that starts on Monday.

Oct 20 (Reuter) - The Romanian government said that Bulgaria's
restarting of the oldest reactor at its Kozloduy nuclear power
plant posed unacceptable risks to Romania and criticised
Bulgaria for reopening the outdated plant ahead of winter.

Oct 21 (Reuter) - Western countries must provide funds
immediately to shut down dangerous nuclear reactors in central
and eastern Europe; this would be a prelude to the phasing out
of nuclear power throughout Europe by 2010, environmentalists
said in a draft declaration drawn up during a two-day
Non-Governmental Organisations' (NGOs) forum which aims to
influence the agenda of a ministerial Environment for Europe
conference that begins in Sofia on Monday.

Oct 23 (Reuter) - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said
that Chinese President Jiang Zemin had eased his security
fears over a possible nuclear reactor deal with Iran. "We got
an explanation of the policy of China and, as they say, they
will  not create any security risks to Israel," he said. 

Oct 24 (Reuter) - German Police said they suspected nuclear
activists were behind several overnight attacks which brought
trains to a standstill on two of the busiest lines in northern
Germany. Anti-nuclear activists have tried to sabotage railway
lines several times over the last year in protest against a
nuclear waste dumping ground at Gorleben.

Oct 24 (Reuter) - A group of anti-nuclear European
parliamentarians accused ministers attending an environmental
conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, of avoiding discussing nuclear
issues. ". Members of the Globe group of parliamentarians said
powerful Western economic interests were more interested in
rehabilitating unsafe nuclear power stations than in promoting
sustainable forms of energy. 

Oct 25 (Reuter) - Bulgaria dismissed international concern
over the safety of its nuclear power plants on Wednesday and
said its standards were better than in some West European
countries.  

Oct. 25 (UPI) -- China and France signed contracts to begin
construction of two nuclear power units at Ling Ao in southern
Guangdong Province, marking the country's second Sino-French
nuclear project. Two 985 megawatt units will be built at Ling
Ao, not far from China's Daya Bay nuclear power. The new
project will involve the same type of French equipment already
in use at Daya Bay.

Oct 25 (Reuter) - A second survey team for a group set up to
provide North Korea with replacement nuclear reactors has
arrived in Pyongyang. The team comes from the Korean Peninsula
Energy Development Organisation (KEDO), which was set up in
March, with the United States, South Korea and Japan as its
main members, to provide North Korea with two light-water
reactors to replace its existing graphite-moderated reactors.

Oct 24 (Reuter) - Australian Prime Minister Paul  Keating
urged the world to harness its anger over continuing nuclear
testing and concertedly push for an end to nuclear weapons.
Keating said he would form a committee of "knowledgeable and
imaginative individuals" from around the world to report to
the United Nations on how to achieve a nuclear-weapons-free
world.

Oct 24 (Reuter) - There are no grounds for taking France to
court over its nuclear tests in French Polynesia, European
Commission President Jacques Santer said on Tuesday. "The
tests underway in French Polynesia do not pose a perceptible
risk of significant exposure to workers or the population,"
Santer told the European Parliament. The Euratom treaty can
require EU member nations to seek European Commission assent
before carrying out "particularly dangerous experiments"
involving nuclear devices.

Oct 24 (Reuter) - France welcomed Tuesday's European
Commission decision not to take it to court over its nuclear
tests in the South Pacific and pledged to carry out long-term
monitoring of radioactivity at the test sites. 

Oct 24 (UPI) -- French officials confirmed reports that they
will cut short its controversial series of nuclear tests in
the South Pacific. Foreign Minister Herve de Charette said
positive results from the first two tests will mean the
country will conduct only four more explosions, instead of the
planned five or six. 

Oct 24 (Reuter) - France's Socialist Party accused President
Jacques Chirac on Tuesday of misjudging world anger by
resuming nuclear tests, only to prove his own justifications
hollow by cutting the number of tests at a single stroke.

Oct 24 (Reuter) - Anti-nuclear protesters, carrying a mock
nuclear bomb and a stuffed kangaroo wearing a gas-mask, drove
a car through a barricade and into the French embassy grounds
in Canberra on Tuesday, police said. The protesters were
stopped from going any further by security officers but not
arrested.

Oct 25 (Reuter) - Most French people would give up the
country's nuclear strike force if drastic budget cuts were
needed, an opinion poll said on Wednesday.  

Oct 25 (Reuter) - Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating said
on Wednesday he had stunned French President Jacques Chirac
with protests against nuclear testing. Chirac said this week
that Australia's stand against the current French nuclear
tests in the Pacific had been excessive and had harmed
relations. 

Oct 25 (Reuter) - The environmental group Greenpeace protested
in Bonn against France's nuclear tests on Wednesday hours
before French President Jacques Chirac was due in Germany for
dinner with Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Greenpeace accused Kohl of
not doing enough to stop Chirac continuing the test series. 

Oct 26 (Reuter) - Italy said it had summoned a senior French
official for an urgent explanation of why French commandos
boarded a boat belonging to the environmental group Greenpeace